There are a lot of major events going on in June that you don’t want to miss: all kinds of open-air festivals and concerts, a night dedicated to sports, Night Of The Museums, and much more. In this event roundup, we collect all of the important happenings taking place in Hungary’s capital during the upcoming month, so that you can plan ahead to attend whatever events are the most interesting for you. Get out there and enjoy everything that Budapest has to offer!
1/11
Brain Bar Budapest
During June 2-4, Brain Bar Budapest, Europe’s festival to determine the future, brings together the world’s most exciting visions. Topics will include Earth versus space, robots versus creativity, human versus artificial intelligence, economy versus biology, knowledge versus information, and wars versus video games, debating competing visions of where Hungary and Europe are headed. This year, Brain Bar Budapest welcomes Chris Hadfield, the world’s favorite astronaut and former commander of the International Space Station; Tim Harford, the award-winning BBC broadcaster, Financial Times columnist, and author of the best-selling book Undercover Economist; Santieri Koivisto, CEO of TeacherGaming LLC, the company behind MinecraftEdu & KerbalEdu; Virginia Postrel, Californian philosopher; and Viktorya Krakovna, the co-founder of the Future of Life Institute.
2/11
Budapest Essentials 2016
A handful of enthusiastic people, who are in love with Budapest, came up with the idea to organize an urban festival for locals, non-locals, foreigners, the young, and everyone else. For everybody who loves this city, especially the changes that happened to the capital in recent years. This idea became the Budapest Essentials Festival, organized for the third time during June 2-5 – everything this city can offer in one package: music, party, culture, gastronomy, and an absolutely indescribable atmosphere! From last year’s club festival, Budapest Essentials now turns into a real urban feast: apart from the popular downtown clubs, the organizers are going to party at special venues, in public buildings, and at World Heritage Sites – at the places that give Budapest its unique character: Amon Tobin will perform at the Várkert Bazaar, DJ Koze will spin the records at A38 Ship, Black Coffee will drive the crowd mad at Klauzál Square Market – and that's just the tip of the iceberg. More details here.
3/11
The Final Buda Castle Beer Festival
Due to renovation work at the Buda Castle, the country’s biggest and most prestigious beer festival will be organized for the last time there between June 2-5. But as you might already know, Hungarians like to drink on two occasions: when there is something to celebrate and when something tragic has happened. This, and the 200 different kinds of beer (including local and international favorites), the concerts (including the performance of Caramel, Firkin, Rakonczai Imre, and others), the street-food trucks, the cider park and the other related programs, all guarantee that the Buda Castle Beer Festival will go out with a bang! So join in and raise your glass for the last time. Cheers!
4/11
Budapest Summer Festival
The Budapest Summer Festival, that starts on June 10th and lasts through August 30th, offers a wide range of open-air cultural programs for the summer months. It will begin with an opening concert by the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra with Chinese pianist Yu Wang, conducted by Zoltán Kocsis, and followed by a wide range of different cultural activities: the ballet of the Monte Carlo Ballet Company; the stage variety show of Circus Revue; the world premiere of the unique gala concert of three young, internationally successful tenors titled 3 Tenors On An Island; the concerts of Stacey Kent and Stanley Jordan; the re-staging of Andrew Lloyd Webber's famous musical, Evita – and we’ve just only scratched the surface, but we’re sure you’ll find something to your liking. More details here.
5/11
Dropkick Murphys concert
Boston’s most magnificent ship is setting sail for the port of rock music on the Danube – which means that the Dropkick Murphys are back in town on June 12th, to rock out with everyone at Barba Negra Track. They are well-known for their live shows where the audience sings along, dances, and clasps the world in their arms. Cold beer, Irish bagpipes, and fast punk rock – what else could we ask for? Not to mention that their current tour is named as 20 Year Anniversary St. Patrick’s Day Tour, which guarantees a setlist full of their greatest hits, from “I’m Shipping Up To Boston” to “Rose Tattoo”, from “Going Out In Style” to “The Boys Are Back”. One of Budapest’s best concerts of the month. More details here.
6/11
Killswitch Engage, August Burns Red, Bury Tomorrow, Architects, Atreyu
On June 14th, one of the founders of the metalcore genre, Killswitch Engage, are returning to Hungary’s capital – this time, they’ll perform at Budapest Park. Having emerged from the ashes of Overcast, this band has taken its love of honest and worldly lyrics and melodic guitar assaults to undreamed-of levels with what are now genre-classics “The End Of Heartache” and “Alive Or Just Breathing”, drawing both from subsequent hardcore as well as Swedish melodic metal incarnations akin to In Flames and At The Gates, adding a measure of the British legends Iron Maiden and heavy drumming rhythms. Before them, one of the hottest names in the genre, Architects, the excellent August Burns Red, Atreyu, and the young but cultish Bury Tomorrow will get you in the mood. More details here.
7/11
Kolorádó Festival
Do you enjoy leaving society behind? With the forest and a barn around you? With woodpeckers on the trees and almost no mobile phone signal? Then we have the perfect event for you. The organizers of Budapest’s first-ever Kolorádó Festival have arranged a big load of nice local bands (Camp Koala, The Best Bad Trip, Amoeba Band, Budapest Big Band just to name a few) and deejays to perform outdoors in a lesser-known green space of Budapest, so you can dance with Mother Nature to acidic techno, pick a stem of grass and put it in your mouth while digging a rowdy garage-rock gig, or just simply get high on stargazing. Between June 16-19 at Pál Sztrilich Scout Center, you can feast on grilled goods, play football, sew patches at TheGardenStudio’s workshop, get lost in the woods or enjoy the DJ sets of the residents of Technokunst, NIGHTDRIVE, Lick The Click!, Designer Drums, and others. More details here.
8/11
Vegan Food Fest
Are you curious about what a hamburger made of purely vegetable-based ingredients tastes like? Would you like to know how to get satiated with a vegan hot dog? Or have you perhaps ever wondered what a raw vegan stuffed cabbage or a fried vegan cheese can be like and what they are made of? Or is it the superfood green smoothies that spark your imagination? In addition to these aforementioned delights, you can taste many other dishes and snacks made of purely vegetable ingredients between 16th and 19th June, at the first Vegan Food Fest, when the promenade next to Allee turns into a swirling outdoor gastrofestival with the city, your friends, and you. On the palette of the first Vegan Food Fest in Hungary, you will find the country’s most popular vegan and raw vegan restaurants, food bistros, street food places and confectionaries showcasing purely vegan and raw vegan food. More details here.
9/11
Movement Night
During the next Movement Night, you can seize the most beautiful parts of Budapest through the night from June 24th to 25th, from Friday night to Saturday morning – the spotlight will be on movement and fun. You can try more than 15 sports at the third Movement Night between 9pm and 4am. Among others, you can play badminton at Heroes’ Square; practice yoga or play table tennis in City Park; in the giant fitness tent, you can sweat through various activities, or you can try street workouts, nordic walking, salsa, or zumba. So, when the night falls, put on your sports shoes and get yourself ready for the forthcoming energy-boosting activities – we guarantee that it will worth your time!
10/11
Czech Beer Festival
Between June 24th and July 3rd, you can taste the finest Czech beers and food at ! Just a small list of which breweries’ products will be available at the festival: Bernard, Brežnak, Bohemia Regent, Břevnovský Benedict, Budweiser, Chodovar, Dudák, Eggenberg, Ferdinánd, Jarošov, Konrad, Krušovice, Litovel, Moritz, Pilsner Urquell, Primátor, Samson, Starobrno, Staropramen, Svátokopecké, Svátováclavský and Zubr. But there will a separate stand for Hungarian and international favorites too, and there will be some unique Czech distillates, liquors, and other specialties to try and buy. Considering all this, and the mouth-watering grilled goods, we are sure that you’ll be satisfied with what the festival has to offer. More details here.
11/11
Night Of The Museums
Have a sleepover with history – spend the night of June 25th at Budapest's museums and find out if they really do come to life after hours. Museums open their doors to visitors until 2:30am for this annual event, and with an all-inclusive ticket, you can enter all of them or just enjoy the countless cultural programs organized around this cultural feast. The list of participating museums include the , , , , and a lot more – keep your eyes open for the detailed program, which will be announced in the forthcoming days. However, what is already known is that this year’s theme will be “heroes, explorers, and innovators”. More details here.
